Questionnaire disease
Questionnaire survey of leaf spot diseases on sports fields
If you manage a sports field area, would you please spare a few minutes to complete this questionnaire.
This questionnaire can be printed off, filled out and faxed back to Kate Entwistle at the Turf Disease Centre on :
01256 880178.
Alternatively the attachment can be completed and saved on your desktop. Once saved, click here: Kate@theturfdiseasecentre.co.uk and attach the completed questionnaire and send.
Whether your sports field suffers from disease problems or not, your assistance is important. Information on your sports field, construction and management will help to put the problems of turf disease into perspective - if we only receive replies from managers of fields that suffer from diseases, it would be all too easy to assume that all sports fields get disease problems.
The severity of turf disease problems will vary from year to year depending on a range of factors including, sward composition, and amount of play, management practice, construction characteristics and site-specific conditions. Over recent years it has been suggested that leaf spot diseases in particular, have become more important as problems for turf managers, but there is no hard evidence to confirm this one way or another.
The information collected from this survey will be used to determine the relative importance of leaf spot diseases on a range of sports fields, constructions and management practice. All site-specific information (in the box below) will remain confidential. Although the details of the site (construction, maintenance practice, disease incidence) will be compiled in to a presentation to be given in November this year, no details of contributors will be included. Please answer the questions below as fully as possible. If you maintain more than one sports field, please be specific about which one you are answering the questions for (e.g. football stadium pitch or football training pitch).
Please copy this questionnaire if you would like to provide information on more than one sports field.
The more information that we receive, the more useful and relevant the accumulated information will be.
Thank you very much for your time.
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Your name |
Contact 'phone number |
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Job title |
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Name of sports field |
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Please give the address & post code of the sports field |
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Disease development can be related to the age of the sward and the 'maturity' of the root zone and therefore, I would like to know something about the age and construction of your sports field.
Q1 Was the sports field constructed or mown from an existing field?
If constructed, please go to Q2
If mown from an existing field, what year was the sports field (as it is now) mown out for regular use?
Q2 What year was the pitch constructed?
Q3 What is the root zone composition (and, if constructed, what was the depth of root zone laid)?
Q4 Has the root zone been changed during the life of the sports field (YES/NO)?
If yes, please go to Q5. If No, please go to Q6
Q5 When was the root zone changed? please detail the root zone composition if different from Q3. (Please give all years)
Q6Is there a drainage system in place (YES/NO)?
Q7 Is there ever a problem with standing water on the sports field (YES/NO)?
If Yes, please indicate how severe a problem this is and if the affected area is the same as that which is affected by fungal disease.
Q8 Was the sports field seeded or turfed?
Q9 What was the initial sward composition (approximate species percentage)?
Q10 Is the playing surface over seeded (YES/NO)?
If yes, please identify the seed used and the months when over seeding are done.
Q11 Has the playing surface ever been returfed (YES/NO)?
If yes, please identify the months when returfing is completed and the type of turf used, if different from Q8.
Disease development can also be related to the management of the sward and the local environmental conditions and therefore, your answers to the following questions will help to identify any correlations.
Q12 Is the sward top dressed (YES/NO)?
If yes, please give details of the material used, and the months in which it is completed.
Q13 Is shading a problem for the sports field (YES/NO)?
If yes, please indicate the proportion of the sports field that is subject to shade for more that 5 hours per day.
Q14 Is fertiliser applied to the sward (YES/NO)?
If yes, please indicate the type, amount (in Kg/ha of N:P:K) and frequency of fertiliser application
Are any other products applied to the turf (wetting agents, turf tonics, soil conditioners, etc) (YES/NO)?
If yes, please state which
Q15 Do you have the facility to irrigate (YES/NO)?
Q16 How frequently is the sports field mown?
Q17 Are the clippings boxed off (YES/NO)?
Q18 At what mowing height is the sports field maintained?
The following questions relate to leaf spot diseases and other disease problems of turf.
Please answer all questions as fully as possible.
Q19 Does your sports field ever suffer from leaf spot disease, however slight (YES/NO)?
If yes, please go to Q20. If No, please go to Question 27.
Q20 How many years ago did you first notice leaf spot disease on the turf?
Q21 Over recent years, has the severity of leaf spot disease increased, decreased or stayed the same as the initial disease levels noticed?
Q22 Does the leaf spot disease occur as small (1 to 5 cm diameter) patches on the turf, large (6 cm and over) patches or as a general effect across the entire sward?
Q23 Is the leaf spot disease restricted to any particular area of the sports field (YES/NO)?
If yes, please state any differences that you know of between these affected and the unaffected areas of the sports field
Q24 On the affected plants, does the leaf spot infection occur as discrete spots on the leaf, as a general discoloration of the whole plant or does it cause the death of the plants, eventually leaving bare areas in the sward?
Q25 Do you treat the leaf spot disease with fungicide (YES/NO)?
If yes, do you use preventative or curative treatments?
Q26 Do you apply any products, apart from fungicides, to control disease development in any way (YES/NO)?
If yes, please give details
Q27 Do you have any other fungal disease problems on your sports field (YES/NO)?
If No, please return this questionnaire to me by email (address below).
If yes, please state, which they are.
Also, please indicate the most serious turf disease problem with regard to time and money required to control it
And
The most important with regard to the area of the sports field affected
(both may be the same answer!)
Thank you for completing this questionnaire
The information that you have given above will be invaluable in determining the extent and severity of leaf spot disease on sports fields.
Please don't forget to fax back or e-mail this completed questionnaire to: Kate@theturfdiseasecentre.co.uk